Should I Try To Sell My House On My Own?
If you are like the majority of homeowners, you bought your current house with the help of a real estate agent. Not only did that agent help you, but they also worked with the listing agent so that the deal progressed without a hitch. The agent was the person you called when you needed information, had misgivings about the house, and even when you weren't sure if you were ready for it. Your agent became your friend and someone on whom you relied for information and updates. In your eyes, the agent was a crucial part of the buying and selling process. It may be hard to imagine you achieving your goals without them. But You Can!
While the client/agent relationship is a wonderful part of real estate, you may need to look at things objectively when the time comes to sell your house. Are you prepared to pay a percentage of the final sale price to your agent? An agent that only lists the house will not appear to be performing as much work as the agents who drive clients from house to house, make the showing appointments, and hammer out negotiations. The listing agent will really just take pictures, prepare the listings, host an open house, and maybe respond to offers.
They are responsible for getting the word out to their circles about your house, but many times, they just rely on the MLS to do that for them. They have it automated to feed into many different housing sites. You may get some hits and showings but unless there is a potential buyer making an offer, your listing agent isn't doing too much. They may do some work when they convince you to lower the listing price, and yes, that happens with almost every listing.
Do you think the listing agent truly deserves the large commission that comes from a closing? Perhaps, the buyer's agent will deserve the commission, but in all reality, the buyer probably found the house, showed the agent, and all the agent had to do was make the showing appointment. If you have never dealt with the showing services, you might be surprised that it is one of the easiest services to use. There is no real "blood, sweat, and tears" involved in the real estate process any longer. Buyers and sellers can do the majority of the work from their computers and the agents will utilize this method every chance they can. It saves them time and money to just send emails and negotiate through emails and phone calls.
The question arises about the importance of an agent when you are selling your house. If you want to save some money in the process, you may decide to try to sell your house yourself. Because it is harder and harder to sell a house in this market, sellers will have to decrease their listing price to compete. If they are saddled with the agent's commission plus buyer's concessions, they may not be able to lower the price to that competitive level. The majority of homeowners are not prepared to pay around 3-6% of commissions, the necessary concessions, and be able to move out of the house. It all requires a large sum of money and for the most part in this market; sellers have to be willing to lower their expectations on price.
If you sell a house on your own, are you confident enough to handle it?
Do you have the necessary experience to market, negotiate, and complete the contracts?
If you have never handled a real estate transaction, you may not be prepared for this big of an endeavor. Even if you feel fairly confident in your sales skills, there is much more to the selling process. An agent will have the network established and can send out email blasts to their network circles. The MLS alone is a resource that For Sale By Owner sellers do not have, unless you are willing to dish out some big bucks for the listing ability. The sites such as Craigslist, Postlets, and others will give you some exposure, but what happens when you have 8 voicemails and no time to return the calls? What happens when your family is ready for their vacation and you have a pre-qualified buyer pestering you for a showing? How does all this work into your current life schedule?
It may work great and you will be able to juggle it all, but what if you can't? What if an unexpected life situation should arise and you have to take the house off the market? Yes, you can still hire an agent at that point but you may have to wait a week or two for your house to circulate and even then you may have missed some valuable market time.
If you are in a situation where you have to sell quickly, what are some of the best ways to sell a house for you? Do you take the standard route with an agent or save the money by selling your house on your own? Both options have their own built-in risks, and if you are not willing to take the risks, consider using a third option. The third option is an investment company. These companies are popping up everywhere and you have probably seen their advertisements of paying cash within 9 days for your house. Be wary of the deals that sound too good to be true. Go with a company with a long-standing reputation: iBuyHouses.com has been around since the 1990's and is made up of a network of investors. The investors within this network are located throughout all of the U.S. meaning that they are local to you and your area!
When you work with a local network member, you are essentially getting the best of all the options. You are working with a professional who is familiar with your area, has bought and sold houses before, and can relate to your situation. They will come to your house and talk with you. Your sale will provide them with an income so you are putting money back into your community, just as you would with an agent. You are also relying on yourself to make the deal happen, just as you would with a FSBO. This third option puts the power back into your hands.
Start here! Instead of going through the effort to market and advertise the property, why not get a jump start and submit your property information to iBuyHouses.com? You can get your property information in front of a qualified local investor.
While the client/agent relationship is a wonderful part of real estate, you may need to look at things objectively when the time comes to sell your house. Are you prepared to pay a percentage of the final sale price to your agent? An agent that only lists the house will not appear to be performing as much work as the agents who drive clients from house to house, make the showing appointments, and hammer out negotiations. The listing agent will really just take pictures, prepare the listings, host an open house, and maybe respond to offers.
They are responsible for getting the word out to their circles about your house, but many times, they just rely on the MLS to do that for them. They have it automated to feed into many different housing sites. You may get some hits and showings but unless there is a potential buyer making an offer, your listing agent isn't doing too much. They may do some work when they convince you to lower the listing price, and yes, that happens with almost every listing.
Do you think the listing agent truly deserves the large commission that comes from a closing? Perhaps, the buyer's agent will deserve the commission, but in all reality, the buyer probably found the house, showed the agent, and all the agent had to do was make the showing appointment. If you have never dealt with the showing services, you might be surprised that it is one of the easiest services to use. There is no real "blood, sweat, and tears" involved in the real estate process any longer. Buyers and sellers can do the majority of the work from their computers and the agents will utilize this method every chance they can. It saves them time and money to just send emails and negotiate through emails and phone calls.
The question arises about the importance of an agent when you are selling your house. If you want to save some money in the process, you may decide to try to sell your house yourself. Because it is harder and harder to sell a house in this market, sellers will have to decrease their listing price to compete. If they are saddled with the agent's commission plus buyer's concessions, they may not be able to lower the price to that competitive level. The majority of homeowners are not prepared to pay around 3-6% of commissions, the necessary concessions, and be able to move out of the house. It all requires a large sum of money and for the most part in this market; sellers have to be willing to lower their expectations on price.
If you sell a house on your own, are you confident enough to handle it?
Do you have the necessary experience to market, negotiate, and complete the contracts?
If you have never handled a real estate transaction, you may not be prepared for this big of an endeavor. Even if you feel fairly confident in your sales skills, there is much more to the selling process. An agent will have the network established and can send out email blasts to their network circles. The MLS alone is a resource that For Sale By Owner sellers do not have, unless you are willing to dish out some big bucks for the listing ability. The sites such as Craigslist, Postlets, and others will give you some exposure, but what happens when you have 8 voicemails and no time to return the calls? What happens when your family is ready for their vacation and you have a pre-qualified buyer pestering you for a showing? How does all this work into your current life schedule?
It may work great and you will be able to juggle it all, but what if you can't? What if an unexpected life situation should arise and you have to take the house off the market? Yes, you can still hire an agent at that point but you may have to wait a week or two for your house to circulate and even then you may have missed some valuable market time.
If you are in a situation where you have to sell quickly, what are some of the best ways to sell a house for you? Do you take the standard route with an agent or save the money by selling your house on your own? Both options have their own built-in risks, and if you are not willing to take the risks, consider using a third option. The third option is an investment company. These companies are popping up everywhere and you have probably seen their advertisements of paying cash within 9 days for your house. Be wary of the deals that sound too good to be true. Go with a company with a long-standing reputation: iBuyHouses.com has been around since the 1990's and is made up of a network of investors. The investors within this network are located throughout all of the U.S. meaning that they are local to you and your area!
When you work with a local network member, you are essentially getting the best of all the options. You are working with a professional who is familiar with your area, has bought and sold houses before, and can relate to your situation. They will come to your house and talk with you. Your sale will provide them with an income so you are putting money back into your community, just as you would with an agent. You are also relying on yourself to make the deal happen, just as you would with a FSBO. This third option puts the power back into your hands.
Start here! Instead of going through the effort to market and advertise the property, why not get a jump start and submit your property information to iBuyHouses.com? You can get your property information in front of a qualified local investor.
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